Court dissolves 10 year-old marriage over battery

A Customary Court sitting at Mapo in Ibadan on Monday dissolved a 10-year-old marriage between Ganiyat Oladeji and her estranged husband Ahmed Oladeji over battery.

Ganiyat, a businesswoman, asked the court to dissolve her relationship with Ahmed over constant battery.

The petitioner, a resident of Idiarere area of Ibadan, told the court that her life was in danger due to battery from the respondent.

“My lord, I have no rest of mind in living with Ahmed as a spouse because he finds happiness in beating me.

“What he did recently was even terrible because after unleashing mayhem on me, he was not satisfied, he ran after me with an axe in an attempt to behead me, but I managed to escape.

“Worst still, Ahmed usually tells me to abort any pregnancy I had with him due to his irresponsibility.

“Besides, he doesn’t respect my parents and I am solely responsible for fending for our children,” Ganiyat said.

The respondent, however, denied all the allegations leveled against him while giving his consent to the dissolution of the marriage.

He said his wife was an unrepentant prostitute.

“Ganiyat often left our children at home, while going out for her adulterous game.

“In fact, many people have advised divorce her and that was the reason why I abandoned her,” Ahmed said.

In his judgment, Chief Ademola Odunade, president of the court, held that it was right to allow both petitioner and the respondent to go their separate ways so that there might be tranquility.

Odunade awarded custody of the two children to the petitioner and ordered the respondent to pay N10, 000 as their monthly feeding allowance, in addition to taking care of their education and other welfare matters.